JPH04282272A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a recorder improved in recording quality of lightface characters and lines. CONSTITUTION:When bit map information is compressed by a compression circuit 6 to be stored in a bit map memory 5, the bit map information is corrected in accordance with the compressing ratio of the compression circuit 6 before compressed by the compression circuit 6. The bit map information corrected and compressed in this manner is stored in the bit map memory 5. This information is read and expanded by an expansion circuit 7, and it is recorded. In this manner, for example, by correcting lightface character or line data to boldface data, the blur or missing of a line can be prevented, and a deterioration in recording quality can be prevented.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that inputs recorded information, develops it into a bitmap, and records an image.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional printer device will be explained with reference to FIG. Recording information sent from the host computer 31 is stored in the page buffer memory 33 via the interface section 32. host computer 31
The character code input from the character font memory 34
The pattern is expanded based on the character font stored in . The bitmap memory 35 expands patterned character data and line drawing data and stores it as dot image data. After being converted into , it is sent to the recording section 37 . The recording unit 37 is composed of a laser printer or the like, and performs recording by scanning a light beam irradiated onto the photoreceptor to form an electrostatic latent image based on input recording information. The CPU 40 is configured together with a ROM 38 and a RAM 39, and controls page editing, recording processing, etc. based on a control program stored in the ROM 38. The RAM 39 is used as a work area while various programs are being executed.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above conventional example, when a bitmap image developed from character or line drawing data is compressed, the recording quality of the characters deteriorates significantly when small characters are recorded due to the compression method. do. This occurs due to blurring of characters, disappearance of lines, etc.

(2) When recording thin line drawings, the lines that should be recorded are not recorded. There were other problems.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide a recording device that improves the recording quality of fine characters and thin lines.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the recording apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, it is a recording device that inputs recorded information in units of pages, develops it into bitmap information, and records it, and includes a compression means for compressing the bitmap information, and a storage device for storing the bitmap information compressed by the compression means. a storage means for decompressing the bitmap information stored in the storage means; a correction means for correcting the bitmap information before compression by the compression means according to a compression ratio of the compression means; has.

[0007]

[Operation] In the above structure, when bitmap information is compressed, the bitmap information is corrected before compression by the compression means according to the compression ratio of the compression means. Then, this bitmap information is stored, and at the time of recording, the bitmap information is expanded and recorded. At this time, the bitmap information is corrected before compression by the compression means according to the compression ratio of the compression means. As a result, for example, by correcting thin characters and thin line data so that they become thicker, it is possible to prevent lines from fading or disappearing, thereby preventing deterioration in recording quality.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the general configuration of a printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, recording information sent from a host computer 1 is stored in a page buffer memory 3 via an interface unit 2. Reference numeral 4 denotes a character font memory in which a character font for referring to the font of the character code inputted from the host computer 1 is stored. Reference numeral 5 denotes a bitmap memory, in which pattern information, which is developed by referring to the character font memory 4, is compressed by a compression circuit 6 and stored therein. Reference numeral 7 denotes an expansion circuit that expands the pattern data stored in the bitmap memory 5.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a parallel-to-serial conversion section which converts the parallel bitmap image data sent from the decompression circuit 7 into serial data and sends it to the recording section 9 as raster data. The recording unit 9 is a known recording unit using a so-called electrophotographic process, which scans a light beam irradiated onto a photoreceptor based on input raster data and records an electrostatic latent image. 12 is CPU and ROM
10, is configured together with RAM 11, and controls page editing, recording processing, etc. according to a control program stored in ROM 10. The RAM 11 is used as a work area while various programs are being executed.

Next, the operation of the printer device of this embodiment will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step S1, character code information or graphics control information is read from the page buffer memory 3. Next, the process proceeds to step S2, where it is determined whether or not it is necessary to correct these character information and graphics information, that is, whether or not it is necessary to make the line portions thicker. If there is no need for correction, the process advances to step S4, where the character code is developed into a pattern by referring to the character font memory 4, and the image data is developed into the RAM 11 for graphics information.
Next, the processing from step S5 onwards is performed.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S2 that the lines need to be made thicker, the process proceeds to step S3, where the character pattern or line drawing data is corrected in accordance with the compression ratio of the recorded information. Then, the corrected pattern data and line drawing information are
Expand and store on AM11. This corrected line drawing data is compressed by the compression circuit 6 in step S5, and stored in the bitmap memory 5 as bitmap information in step S6.
After being stored in , the process advances to step S7.

Note that the determination as to whether or not it is necessary to make the line thicker is made based on the relationship between the compression ratio of the compression circuit 6 and the line thickness of the pattern data or line drawing data. Judgment is made taking into account the possibility of disappearance. Data serving as this judgment criterion is stored in the ROM 10 as a table in which compression ratios are associated with corresponding character codes or line drawing information. Therefore, in step S2, this table stored in the ROM 10 is referred to to determine whether correction is necessary.

[0016] In step S7, it is determined whether or not the processing for one page has been completed, and when the processing has been completed, the process returns to the original processing routine. On the other hand, if the process has not been completed, the process returns to step S1 and the above-described process is repeated.

In the above-described embodiment, data compression and expansion were processed by hardware, but they may also be processed by software. Furthermore, in color printers, line drawings may become invisible if compression or expansion is performed depending on the color. In such cases, it is also possible to perform correction based on color.

The present invention may be applied to a system made up of a plurality of devices, or to a device made up of one device. It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to cases where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or device.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, when bitmap information is developed, a means for correcting, that is, thickening, character and line drawing data according to the data compression ratio is provided, so that compression and decompression can be performed. It is possible to prevent fine print and fine lines from disappearing.

[0020]

As explained above, according to the present invention, there is an effect that fine characters and thin lines can be recorded with improved recording quality.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing bitmap development processing in the printer device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional printer device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Host computer 2 Interface part 3 Page buffer memory 5 Bitmap memory 6 Compression circuit 7. Extension circuit 8 Parallel/serial converter 9 Recording Department 10 ROM 11 RAM 12 CPU

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A recording device that inputs page-by-page recording information, develops it into bitmap information, and records it, comprising:
compression means for compressing the bitmap information; storage means for storing the bitmap information compressed by the compression means; decompression means for decompressing the bitmap information stored in the storage means; and compression by the compression means. A recording apparatus comprising: a correction means for correcting the bitmap information before compression by the compression means according to the ratio.